The two are claiming the service as one of the UK's most-advanced broadband internet services, combining high-quality access with a range of content and services for 拢29.99 a month.
The launch is sure to spark a fierce battle in the broadband marketplace. Yesterday, Freeserve launched an ad campaign promoting its broadband services, ahead of today's BT and Yahoo! launch.
The BT Yahoo! Broadband campaign is being created by recently appointed roster agency Clemmow Hornby Inge, which was appointed to the task by BT in June.
The above-the-line advertising campaign breaks on September 9 and will run until the end of March 2004.
The campaign is based on the theme of "the way the internet was meant to be", aims to show how BT Yahoo! Broadband delivers the content and services people have always wanted.
The ads flash back to a time when the internet was merely an ambitious idea and features two fictional US West Coast characters talking about what it could be like.
The launch sees the BTopenworld consumer brand consigned to the dustbin, although it will continue to operate as an ISP serving business customers and as the name of the corporate division for its internet operations.
BT Yahoo! Broadband promises a much wider and richer range of services than the existing BTopenworld Broadband service for which BT has signed up around 400,000 broadband subscribers and 1.5m narrowband subscribers.
Duncan Ingram, managing director of BTopenworld, said: "For broadband to be as pervasive and life-changing as it promises, three things are crucial: widespread availability, quality of service, and compelling content and services.
"Until now, no single provider or partnership has managed to fulfil these aims in the UK market. Through the launch of BT Yahoo! Broadband, we are not only stealing a march on our competitors but elevating the whole online experience to a completely new level."
The new services on offer include greater intelligent personalisation, tailored content, LAUNCHcast, a radio service that claims to anticipate user's music preferences, plus a range of advanced security services including anti-spam, anti-virus software and a free firewall.
Existing BTopenworld broadband customers can upgrade for free to the new service, while new customers can sign up at the .
Mark Opzoomer, managing director and regional vice-president of Yahoo! Europe, said: "There are no two bigger, more trusted and more dynamic names in this market than BT and Yahoo!."
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